The producers growing freshwater aquarium and ornamental species (listed below) used 328 ponds in 2006–07 (compared with 371 ponds in 2005–06). Ponds covered an area of 14 hectares in 2006–07 (compared with 17 hectares in 2005–06).
The average pond area decreased marginally from 466 m2 in 2005–06 to 438 m2 in 2006–07. The sector also used 714 tanks totalling 1335 m3 in 2006–07 (compared with 668 tanks totalling 1185 m3 in 2005–06).
Exotic ornamental fish:
Exotic freshwater ornamental fish were produced in 14 hatcheries in 2006–07 (15 in 2005–06). The number of fish sold decreased from 1.7 million fish ($843 000) in 2005–06 to 1.3 million ($725 500) in 2006–07.
Native ornamental fish:
Native freshwater ornamental fish (including lungfish and saratoga) were produced on 21 farms in 2006–07 (22 in 2005–06). The number of fish sold increased to 1.19 million, representing an increase of 210% over a two-year period (382 000 sold in 2004–05). Over the same two-year period the value of this sector has increased from $297 000 to $475 000.
Ornamental invertebrates:
Invertebrates (primarily freshwater prawns, redclaw crayfish and some tadpole shrimp) were sold into the aquarium trade by six farms in 2006–07 (also six farms in 2005–06). The number of invertebrates sold rose slightly from 305 000 ($45 300) in 2005–06 to 340 500 ($44 700) in 2006–07.
Farm details:
The number of ponds used by aquarium and ornamental farms decreased from 371 in 2005–06 to 328 in 2006–07. Ponds covered an area of 14.4 hectares in 2006–07 (compared with 17.3 hectares in 2005–06). The average area decreased from to 470 m2 to 200 m2.
There were 1610 tanks on farms in 2006–07 (compared with 1596 tanks on farms in 2005–06). The average tank volume increased from 740 litres in 2005–06 to 860 litres in 2006–07.
Marine hatchery and aquarium:
The marine hatchery and aquarium group covers a diverse range of species including oyster and pearl oyster spat, marine aquarium fish, corals, sandfish, barramundi cod, mullet and mangrove jack.
There were five hatcheries that sold product in 2006–07 (compared with six in 2005–06).
Only the value of sales is reported in this section—the group is so diverse that it is not meaningful to tally and compare numbers of oyster spat with numbers of fish.
The value of production has risen by 66% from $243 000 in 2005–06 to $403 000 in 2006–07.
Labour (hatchery and aquarium):
Statistics for the whole sector show that it employed 55 permanent staff in 2006–07 (56 in 2005–06) and 18 800 hours of casual labour (19 500 hours in 2005–06). This equates to 64 FTEs employed in the sector, which was a decrease of 2 units from 2005–06. Output per labour unit increased from $50 900 in 2005–06 to $54 300 in 2006–07.
Industry development:
Drought has affected some individuals within the industry, whereas other farms have maintained strong production. Overall, drought has had some impact on the supply of certain species. Introduction of logbooks for culture stock collection and development of an AAQ Hatchery Code of Practice are two DPI&F-assisted industry development programs.
All holders of general fisheries permits allowing for culture stock collection are now required to complete Broodstock and Culture Stock Collection (BR 01) and Species of Conservation Interest (SOCI 01) logbooks.
Introduction of the system included updated inland maps identifying Queensland waters by grid and site. This was achieved after extensive industry consultation.
Information Sourced From:
